In a Wilmington classroom, students transform into some surprising characters—healers, mages, and warriors. WHQR’s Isabelle Shepherd reports that a virtual game is preparing fourth grade math students at Alderman Elementary School for the real world.

Toth: “Alright, let’s take a seat real quick because we have a busy day.”

In a Wilmington classroom, a math teacher is using new technology to turn learning into a game. And in order to succeed in the world of Classcraft, an online, educational role-playing program, teamwork is key.

In Brian Toth’s fourth grade math classes, the students are split into teams and assigned roles. In the game, they can be mages, warriors, or healers. By doing well in class, students gain experience points, and if they behave badly, they take damage, which leads to negative consequences.

Next Glass, often unofficially described as the Pandora of wine and beer, is an app for smart phones that purports to tell users – with a high degree of scientific certainty -- how much they’ll enjoy a particular bottle.

The extension of Independence Boulevard has been a high priority project since the 1960s. But finding a way to gather funding—while also keeping it in line with federal guidelines, making sure it fits within the Wilmington community, and working around the CSX rail lines—has been a roadblock to the project.

Governor Pat McCrory recently unveiled his new transportation plan. As it stands, southeastern North Carolina is not slated to receive funding for rail improvements.

With the wood pellet industry and Vertex Rail coming to Wilmington, train traffic will increase substantially over the next few years. Yet the state is currently not providing funding to help ease the strain of such a rise in activity or address safety conflicts with vehicular traffic.

Freight traffic in Wilmington will likely increase due to the new Vertex Rail and wood pellet industries. And the city’s population is expected to grow by over 50% in the next 25 years. This creates safety and traffic issues, which the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County are attempting to address. Instead of slowly winding through the city, officials envision a new route cutting across the Cape Fear River directly to the Port.